Thrills

by K. T. Tomb

  “Okay,” Courtney replied, realizing that Kim was giving her the corporate, ‘you work for me, bitch’ cold shoulder. So that’s how it’s going to be?

  “I’ll see you this afternoon?” Kim asked.

  “Sure, boss,” Courtney replied, spinning on her heel and walking away toward the van.

  It was time to begin making her rounds.

  The first gym on the list was easy. She walked in and asked for the general manager. John came out immediately, and she liked his demeanor all over again.

  “Hey, John,” she said. “Good to see you again.”

  “Courtney! It’s great to see you again, but something tells me that today you are not here about your membership. It seems you’re here about something else. What can I help you with?” he asked.

  “I’m actually on a bit of official company business. I need to know—do any of your clients use a product called ProTenX Thermo? Do you sell it here?” she asked.

  “ProTenX Thermo?” John just looked confused.

  “Have you heard of anyone talking about it on the floor? Anything like that?” Courtney asked again.

  “No. I mean… no, I don’t think so…” John answered. “Why?”

  “Well, I represent a supplement company. I’m a territory rep for their products and this product is on recall. If I left you my number, would you maybe call me with the numbers of anyone you know who might be using it?” she asked.

  “Yeah, sure, I suppose,” John said.

  “It’s really important that I get these people’s supplement exchanged for them, John. There might have been a sanitation compromise on that particular batch and the company feels very strongly about keeping its clients healthy and safe.”

  “Well, since you put it that way, I’ll be sure to contact you if any of the stuff turns up.”

  “Okay, great. Thank you so much. I’ve actually got your location on a list of confirmed deliveries but you don’t stock it here, it must have been for an individual. So it’s not a question of ‘if’, John. It’s a question of ‘who’. Here’s my number, please let me know if it turns up,” Courtney said. “I am in for a crazy, hectic day.”

  “Well, that’s alright,” he replied. “You know what they say about idle hands, anyway, yeah?”

  “They are the devil’s playthings?” Courtney said, taking a bit of a guess.

  “You got that right. They are the devil’s playthings. Anyway, I’m sure you’ll get it resolved.”

  “Thanks, John, that’s actually really sweet of you to say. Remember to call me,” Courtney said.

  “Like I said, you got it. If I hear somethin’, I’ll let you know right away,” John added.

  “Thanks again.”

  And with that, she walked out. She was going to save Green’s Fit Factory for last, so she went down to Main Street Fitness next. She checked in with the desk person, and when Mark came out again, she felt a little bit stymied. Like she would never get anywhere with him.

  “Hey Mark, good to see you again,” she said.

  “Yeah, absolutely,” Mark said. “So ready to get signed up today? We still have that great introductory discount for all our new members. Buy nine months of continuous membership, and we’ll give you the last three months of the year for free.”

  “No, unfortunately, I’m not here for that today. I’m here on company business. I need to ask a couple of questions. Do any of your trainers recommend a product called ProTenX Thermo for their clients? Or is it a product you sell in your store here? I represent the company that makes it and unfortunately the batch that the delivery here came from is not passing our quality control right now. So any one of your clients or trainers that purchased any will get a full product based refund. I just need their names and contact numbers, if you have them,” Courtney said.

  “Uh, let me just check the computer system. All the trainers keep their files electronically. They’re supposed to track supplement use, but it doesn’t always work out that way. Clients aren’t always… honest… if you know what I mean,” Mark said. “Okay. Looks like we’ve got… four hundred seventy-three files currently active with one of our fitness pros and of those files, there are twenty-two listed that have PTX in their files. I can have the names and phone numbers sent directly to your supervisor, if you like?” he said, trying to be super helpful.

  “Yes, that would be wonderful,” Courtney replied, handing him Kim’s business card. She flashed him a smile and gently touched his arm, giving him just enough of a flirt to keep him helpful.

  “And what about the three cases that were delivered here?”

  After Mark had loaded the remainder of his PTX stock into the van, Courtney oversaw the delivery of the exact amount needed to replace the old stuff and had Mark sign for it all. She left the gym and then headed down to Green’s Fit Factory. She walked in, and went to the front desk and asked the receptionist if she could talk to the manager on duty. Tammy was on duty that afternoon, and on seeing Courtney’s face and recognizing her, she called up to the main office and asked for a manager to come down.

  “Hi, I’m Luke,” said the young man that approached her. He was tan—too tan—and he had frosted the tips of his brown hair with blond highlights. She thought he looked ridiculous, sort of like that surfer fish from Spongebob Squarepants; but if this was who she had to deal with to get what she needed, then so be it.

  “Hi, I’m Courtney,” she said trying to keep her voice pleasant, even though she did not feel nice.

  “What can I do for you today, Courtney?” Luke asked.

  “Well, I need some help. I work for a supplement company that manufactures a product called ProTenX Thermo. Right now we’re having some production issues, and the bottles on the market need to be recalled. I know there are a number of people here that use the product, and I would be grateful if we could get the contact information for all those clients. We will, of course, be replacing their current bottles of the product with fresh bottles. So they have nothing to worry about as far as losing money goes. It’s basically just a matter of good customer service and legal obligation. You know how it is?”

  She flashed him a smile and looked down, letting her hair fall in front of her face and then slowly brushed it away.

  She looked up just in time to see the silly grin on Luke’s face, and then saw him flush as he realized that he had gotten caught looking.

  “So, can you help me out, Luke?”

  “Look, I… I can’t give you that. All of that information is being held for the case regarding one of our trainers—Yago—I’m sure you heard all about it, but he was murdered here a couple days back,” Luke said, and looked at her with the face of a person who thought he had an extremely juicy piece of information.

  “Yeah—I’m one of his clients. I’m actually the client that found him… so there’s that,” Courtney replied.

  She knew she was twisting a knife with that comment, but she didn’t care. She didn’t want to deal with this kid’s bullshit. She wanted to get what she needed and get out.

  “Oh… uh… I’m sorry. I didn’t… uh… I’m really, really sorry,” Luke said. “Look. I can’t give you names and addresses. But Yago was also extremely strict about what his clients took. He actually managed supplements for all our clients. He was up on all that stuff. I mean, he really, really knew his shit. So everything any of our clients would have been taking would be in his office. He had a supplement cabinet. He ordered and distributed all the supplements that came in and out of the gym for our client programs. They signed on saying they would not buy anything on their own. That they would not take anything on their own without consulting him,” Luke said.

  “Wow, quite the task master when it comes to that kind of thing,” she replied. “Were people good about following that rule or no? I mean… I could easily just say that I wasn’t taking anything extra, and I could just lie about it,” Courtney answered.

  “Yeah, I suppose, but you can always tell who the cheaters are. And Yago
hated cheaters. I remember he had this client once that was stacking anabolics and Yago flipped out. He made the guy piss in a cup every single day until the steroids were out of his system completely. Told the guy he wouldn’t coach him for his competition either, and that if he was going to train, then he needed to train the right way. AKA no steroids,” Luke said.

  “Wow, he really did hate those things,” Courtney said.

  “Yes, he really did,” Luke replied. “What we can do though is run up to his office quick and you can repo all the bottles of PTX he has in that cabinet if you want?”

  “Sure, that would work,” Courtney said.

  Once they had loaded up all the PTX, Courtney started pulling down the boxes of replacements.

  “Hey, what are you doing?” Luke asked, surprised.

  “I’m not here to rob you, Luke. I brought replacements.”

  “That’s amazing!”

  “I know, right? So now, here’s what you’re going to do for me. I don’t need their names… just a number and then I’m going to make you look like a fucking hero.”

  “Really? How?” He was chomping at the bit.

  “Just tell me how many people who work out here did Yago put on PTX? Those who might have PTX that they’re using at home now.”

  “I’ll check how many members were consulting with Yago in total.”

  A few minutes later, Luke ran back out into the parking lot.

  “Two hundred and ninety-eight members.”

  “Okay, that’s good. So, here’s the part where you turn into the hero. I’m going to give you two hundred and ninety-eight bottles of PTX and you’re going to let each of those members know that the batch they’re using was recalled and you scored free replacements for everybody. All they have to do is stop taking what they have and bring them in to you for a replacement bottle. How does that sound?”

  “Frikkin’ awesome!”

  As soon as Luke had the rest of his PTX offloaded, Courtney left the gym and went to the nearest TGIF restaurant. Once she was seated, she ordered lunch and a beer and waited in silence for it to arrive. She devoured the buffalo wings and turned on the onion rings in a frenzied attack, taking only a moment’s rest to raise her hand for a refill of her Coors Light. While she sipped it, she sent an email to Kim, bringing her up to speed on where everything was as far as the case went. Kim’s response was almost immediate:

  Court,

  Great job getting the rest of the PTX out of the gyms we sent you to. We’ve already gotten to the some of the people on the list of names you provided from the first two gyms. Great job getting the pills out of Green’s. They’re sending out replacements to the clients as we speak, and if anyone asks, all that happened was that the pills were supposed to be red, but they came out of the plant blue.

  We haven’t heard anything as far as any other murders. So, thankfully, that front is quiet for now. We still haven’t had any luck tracking him down either. So if you hear anything about his location—where he might be hiding or who he might be with, or where he might be going… just keep us posted.

  Thanks again Court,

  Kim

  Court finished reading the email and then thought to herself, Great. All I have to do now is track down a crazy, doped up, psycho killer. That does not want to be found. Great.

  ***

  “Okay, so now what?” Jacobs said to Scully.

  “I have, quite literally, no words for what she just did. Why the hell would she go to all those different gyms? It doesn’t make sense. At all,” Scully replied.

  “No, it doesn’t,” Jacobs said back. “All it looks like is that she’s working. Must be some kind of sales rep making deliveries and such.”

  “Yeah, it does look that way, doesn’t it? What do you wanna do? Do you want to go in there and take a run at her and see what she’s holding back?” Scully asked. “Because we can’t sit here forever. Eventually, she’s gonna make us.”

  “And we can’t take a ride around the block because there is always the chance that if we leave, she could leave. Not a risk I’m willing to take,” Jacobs said. “You really think she’ll make us?”

  “Yeah. She’s not dumb. Anyone could see that from when we interviewed her the first time. She walks around a lot and eventually she’s gonna notice this car parked outside her house and then she’s gonna notice it again. And then she might run for it,” Scully said.

  “Crap. Well, we’re kind of between a rock and a hard place,” Jacobs said.

  “Yeah, we kind of really are,” Scully replied, putting his face in his hands. “Okay, I know what we’ll do. We’ll get another set of eyes on her. That way, we can rotate. Thoughts?”

  “I like it,” Jacobs replied. “Great idea. Call it in. Tell them we’re surveilling a material witness in that double one eight seven from the other night and we shouldn’t have any issues.”

  “Already on it,” Scully said.

  He called it in and in twenty minutes, the next car was there. They communicated over the radio, and Scully and Jacobs asked the other detectives to keep them up to speed if she went anywhere.

  Scully and Jacobs drove off, and parked at their favorite coffee shop and waited for their next turn on shift. They each took a nap and eventually it was time to go back on surveillance. The other two detectives only reported minimal movement in the house, and through a window, they watched her make a phone call that lasted about ten minutes. And that was it.

  Chapter Nine

  Courtney got on the phone again and called Kim. The phone rang twice, then she picked up.

  “Hello, this is Kim,” she answered.

  “Hey Kim, its Court,” Court said into the phone.

  “Court, what’s up?” Kim asked.

  “Here’s what I’m thinking. Steve Schmitz is out there on his own. I did some research on what they call ‘roid rage’ and if there’s any truth to it, he isn’t culpable. He clearly doesn’t know who he is, what he’s doing, or where he’s at. It’s not likely he’s ranged too far out of the area since it’s not like he’s planning any of this. There can’t be a lot of places for someone in that frame of mind to hide. My first guess was that he’s under an overpass or out in the woods somewhere. But then I thought that after three days and two horrific attacks, he might actually be coming down off the bender by now. So here’s what I’m thinking. He’s somewhere very comforting to him; somewhere that instinct is driving him to be. I mean, every junkie goes back to their den when they’re coming down.”

  “I can see your logic there,” Kim said. “Tell me where you’re going with this, Colombo.”

  “I looked through some city records, and it turns out he grew up right here in Waunakee. His mom and dad both lived here till they died and he inherited the house; the house he grew up in. He would know that place. He would be comfortable there. It’s gotta be where he is, right?” Courtney finished.

  “I don’t know, Court,” Kim said skeptically.

  “Wait, what?” Courtney replied. “What’s not to know? It’s exactly what we’ve been looking for to bring this guy in—to get him the help he needs. Why couldn’t he be there?”

  “Look, Court, it’s nothing against you, okay? But we’ve got our people looking for him already. The guys we have working on this… they’re the best. Their searches never turned up his mom and dad’s house; no property other than the house he has a mortgage on with his wife. They don’t own a vacation home, or a lake house, or anything like that. I just think my guys would have turned something like that up,” Kim said.

  “Really, Kim? What the FUCK is going on and what is it that you’re not telling me? Your guys probably missed it because the trust that owns the house is in his older sister’s name. Her married name. So yes, Kim, it’s possible that they missed the house. You better read me all the way in on this one, or I’m done. I take everything I have on you and your company, and I take it to the police. Tabloids, local news stations, any single media outlet that will listen will get this st
ory, Kim, I swear to God,” Courtney said.

  She’d had enough. She was fed up feeling like she did not have enough information to do what was being asked of her. She felt like she was chasing shadows, and she was sick of it.

  There was a long sigh on the other side of the phone.

  “What?” Courtney asked somewhat impatiently.

  “Where do you live?” Kim asked. “I can’t do this over the phone.”

  “Oh… uh… Okay. I live at 241 South Street. Right off Main. You know where that is?” Courtney asked.

  “Yeah, I know exactly where that is. I’ll be there in twenty, maybe twenty-five minutes. Do you have wine?” Kim asked.

  “Yeah, I got a couple bottles,” Courtney replied. “Red or white?”

  “Chill a bottle of white, and we’ll start with a bottle of red,” Kim said. “This could take a while,” she added.

  “I think I have to know,” Courtney replied. “I can’t do what you’re asking me to do if I don’t.”

  “Okay, I’ll be there as soon as I can,” Kim replied.

  Courtney went over to her wine cabinet and put a large bottle of white in the fridge, then she opened a bottle of red and put it on her counter. She was extremely nervous about whatever it was Kim was going to tell her. While she waited, she sliced up some apples and cut a few wedges off of a piece of eight-year-old cheddar she had been saving, arranging them around a small round tray and setting it off to one side of the counter.

  Realizing she hadn’t eaten yet, she started there and made herself a turkey sandwich. She was just finishing up her meal when the doorbell rang. She answered and Kim was standing on her stoop.

  “Hey, Kim, how ya doin’?” Courtney asked her. “Come on in.”

  “I’m okay, Court. I’m just not super excited by the fact that… that… you need to hear this story. It’s not a great one,” Kim said.